One Is the Loneliest Number
by Super Batflash
Summary: Behind every great hero is an even greater sidekick. Batman has Robin, Aquaman has Aqualad, and Roy...well Roy just has Wally.  AU
1. Chapter 1

**[Fanfic]**

Title: One (Is the Loneliest Number)

Characters: Roy, Wally

Necessary Warnings: N/A

I did this cause um I could. Anyhow this is important information you need to know before you read;

**In this AU Wally is the first ever speedster, that was born form the speed force via his mother's vagina. So there's like no Flash, sorry to any avid Flash Fans. But other than the whole eliminating Flash form the DCAU continuity everything else stays the same. I don't really plan on putting Roy and Wally together at the moment but that could change at any time so if that intrigues you stick around if that disgusts you I really don't give a flying fuck so...yeah. **

Enjoy!

How long was a second?

It was one of the most basic units for measuring time. Sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour. But how long was a second? There were one thousand milliseconds in one second. But that didn't seem right. A second felt so much shorter than one thousand of anything.

How fast does a bullet travel?

Seconds depending on the length of the target the size of the bullet and the force behind it all. Roy hears the gun go off before the bullet will hit him. He knows that whoever pulled the trigger is somewhere close and estimates less than three point five seconds before impact. Only he can't see where the shot came from, so there's no way to know where to move to avoid being hit. He doesn't regret leaving; he doesn't regret making a name for himself. But he does let himself entertain the thought, in the half second he does have left, that this might not have happened if Oliver was there. The two of them worked seamlessly and effortlessly together they moved like one living thing, everything was in sync all the way down to they're breath.

It was difficult to fight solo after working with a partner for so long, Roy over looked things he shouldn't have. Things Oliver would have figured out. Like the man holding the gun, hidden somewhere in the shadows of the grimy alleyway, that Roy can't see. He knows it's a kill shot his gut tells him that much and he thinks to himself that at least he doesn't really have any regrets.

And in the half a second before the bullet will hit Roy in his temple, in the five hundred milliseconds before impact; Roy is all the way on the other side of the dark alleyway, on the opposite side of the bullet. He has less than a second to react and no time to ask what happens because he can see the guy who shot at him already trying to make a break for it. Roy takes the guy out swiftly with a well aimed arrow to the shoulder nothing that will kill him but it'll keep him incapacitated and alive long enough for the cops to show up. Then Roy turns toward the kid that still has a tight grip on the inside of his shirt. Whoever the kid was he had a pair of the greenest eyes Roy had ever seen and bright red hair with the freckles to match. His clothes, if you could call them that, hung loosely off his too skinny form.

He was shaking slightly, Roy hated that he couldn't tell if it was from adrenaline or malnourishment, and his eyes although vibrant, didn't look much scared or surprised that he witnessed an almost shooting. And Roy didn't really want to think about what this might have meant, didn't want to think of how much more the boy had already been exposed to.

"Thanks," Roy says still looking the kid over. He jumped slightly, letting go of the tight grip he'd had on Roy's shirt, looking shocked as though he'd forgotten Roy was ever really there in the first place. He nods in recognition but his legs kept twitching like he was going to take off at any second. "What's your name?" Roy asks, softer this time, and that at least manages to calm him down some.

"um...Wally We-" he stops for a second looking like a little kid caught in a lie, he looks around for a second as though he expects his mom to come out of nowhere to scold him."Wally my name is Wally." he says fast in an effort to cover up his stumble but Roy's not an idiot he only chooses to ignore it because he doesn't want to scare the kid away.

"How did you do that?" Roy asks and that seems to be the wrong thing to ask because his leg is doing that weird twitching thing again. Wally's shoulder gives a spastic jerk that Roy thinks might be an attempt at nonchalance that fails miserably.

"I-I was just born like this." Wally says softly eyes switching from Roy to the busy street at the end of the alley and back again so fast his eyes actually blur. "Does it really matter anyway?" Wally snaps almost violently, but the angry sneer that mars his face is more defiance than rage. And Roy notes that the twitching of his leg is getting a little more violent.

Roy suppresses a sigh as he watches Wally small frame twitching in to big clothes, he looked nervous scared angry and offended all at the same time. He's obviously not going to get anywhere with Wally now. Silently Roy reaches into his pocket and pulls out the small bundle of cash there, its thirty bucks worth of late rent money, he figures Wally could use it more than he does.

"What, are you-are you _serious_?" Wally whispers like it's some kind of big secret between just the two of them. And Roy just nods extending his hand out that much more for Wally to take the money. And he does, Wally snatches it out of Roy's hand fast and it's a little weird how it could be there one second and then not the next. "Thanks." Wally breathes quietly and he at least does sound grateful. He's gone again in the time it takes Roy to blink.

And with that Roy walks out of the grimy alleyway, back ramrod straight in his effort not to limp, headed home to tend to the wounds that weren't serious but ran the risk of infection and to run training exercises. He needed to be faster, more aware. He needed to get used to being alone. He could deal with that Wally kid later, when he had the time.


	2. Chapter 2

**[Fanfic]**

Title: One Is the Loneliest Number [2]

Characters: Roy, Wally

Necessary Warnings: N/A

Short yes I know but necessary so yeah. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending it felt abrupt somehow but eh, not like I can change it now. So anyhow I hope everyone enjoys and yeah I know it's taking a while for Roy to like 'adopt' Wally or whatever, but I'm trying to keep things realistic. So um yeah that's it I guess. Reviews would be lovely.

* * *

><p>Wally actually shows up a lot more after that, always lurking behind a trash bin or around the corner of some dingy alley watching. He never says anything to Roy, he tries his best (and fails miserably) to stay hidden and just watch. Whenever Roy is making his usual rounds patrolling Star City he can always count on Wally being there. Even though Roy would never admit to it out loud, it was actually kind of nice to know that someone was watching out for him. But mostly Roy just thinks how irritating it was to have someone watching his every move.<p>

Around the seventh or eighth it time happens Wally accidently knocks over a trashcan and garbage spills out everywhere. He tenses up for a long moment and stops breathing hoping to any deity that would listen Red Arrow wouldn't realize he was there. But alas Wally must have been a bad person in another life, or maybe God just plain hated him because Red Arrow was looking right at him, or at least his head was turned in Wally's direction. And Wally knows even though he can't see through the mask that look he's receiving must mean come out of hiding only Wally's maybe a little to scared to move.

"Might as well come out now." Red Arrow calls out and Wally still doesn't move. "Wally I _know_ it's you and I know you've been following me." Red Arrow says and that catches Wally off gaurd. How could he have possibly known Wally was following him? Wally had been using the utmost precautions when following him; always staying in the shadows, tip-toeing to conceal the sounds of his feat, he even hid behind trash bins and in alley corners. The mere fact that this Red Arrow guy knew Wally had been following him this whole time was in itself a testament of what an amazing hero he must have been.

"Hi," Wally says lamely waving up at Red Arrow, he's blushing nervously and trying to avoid looking into the other's eyes, or mask really. Red Arrow says nothing he just looks down at Wally with an expression that does _not_ look amused in the least. It makes Wally laugh nervously and fidget restlessly looking at the suddenly very interesting ground.

"What do you want?" he asks, and Wally jumps a little because he has no idea how he's supposed to answer that question. Yes he knows the answer he's just maybe a little scared of how Roy will respond to it, and God, Wally has no idea when exactly his life got so complicated. And he kind of wishes he could go back in time three years before any of this crap started happening to him. "Wally," Red Arrow says and his eyebrows move in an angry arch that is maybe more than a little scary.

"I just thought that maybe you know," Wally trails off for a second and takes a deep breath because this is possibly the most terrifying situation he has ever been in "Youmightneedhelporsomething." he finishes in a rush his voice a high pitched squeak.

"I don't need _your _help." Red Arrow deadpans and Wally just shrugs.

"You did before," he mumbles softly and even though he can't see it, he can almost feel Red Arrow's glare and it makes him shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

"Doesn't matter," Red Arrow says after a long moment of tense silence "You're not trained-"

Wally looks immediately excited about Red Arrow's choice of words. "So if I was trained then I could help you?" he asks.

Roy notices the look of pure joy on Wally's face and he feels a little bad that he has to say no to the kid but he couldn't have a civilian following him around like that.

"No," he says forcefully but Wally's not listening.

"I promise I won't let you down." Wally promises, "When I come back I am gonna be the best hero ever." he's gone in an instant and Roy's left alone now.

He figures there's no point in worrying about Wally now because there's nothing he can do about it at the moment. So he picks up where he left off, on patrol.


	3. Chapter 3

**[Fanfic]**

Title: One Is the Loneliest Number [3]

Characters: Roy, Wally

Necessary Warnings: N/A

Hey um not really sure what to say except I had loads of fun writing this chapter. And there is some brief Wally being out of character but it was necessary for the plot and it won't happen again, probably. Any who I worked hard on this and feedback would be wonderful.

.:.

Roy's not sure whether to feel annoyed or relieved when Wally shows up again. He settles for being thoroughly unamused.

"I'm back," Wally says with a grin and Roy frowns because Wally actually looks thinner than before -if that was even possible.

"I noticed," Roy deadpans he tries to convey just how annoyed he is through those two words, but Wally doesn't seem to get it because he's still smiling brightly.

"Remember what you said before?" Wally asks and crap he sounds so excited Roy already knows this conversation isn't going to end well for either of them. Roy doesn't answer Wally, but that didn't matter because the kid kept talking anyway. "You said I had to train before we could work together."

"I never said we could work together." Roy says mildly but Wally just brushes the comment right off.

"You implied-"

"I didn't imply anything." Roy growls softly trying hard to sound patient.

"But I thought..." Wally trails off sounding sad and small and Roy could already feel the guilt settling in the pit of his stomach. "I trained all week and I thought," Wally sighs kicking softly at dirt, "I'm a lot stronger now." he adds trying hard for optimistic like maybe if he was happy enough Roy would change his mind.

"Why?" Roy asks after a long tense moment of silence and Wally looks lost for a moment before he gets it.

"I dunno," Wally mumbles softly with a shrug, "I've always been..." he trails off for a moment looking for a word to explain what he was, "um...'special' y'know. I've always been this fast. And it's like..." Wally sighs softly and swallows thickly like what he's about to say was really hard, which it probably was.

"A lot of people don't get it, I mean they think of being super fast and they think it's a good thing. Like it's this amazing superpower; but it's so hard to control. So hard to be around everyone and everything when it's all so slow and a second feels like a hundred years. And I have like the fastest metabolism and I have to like eat ten times the average adult and like sometimes it's just so-so-so...ugh!" Wally growls to encompass every frustration that he has to deal with everyday.

"And I kept thinking it was always going to be this way, it was always going to suck. But then, then I saved you and it was like. I was a hero or something. And I thought well maybe if I could like help people you know, save lives like Superman. Like the Justice League. And I figured maybe if I was like that then, my speed would be a good thing." Wally shrugs slightly to signal he's done talking and he doesn't look up to see whether or not Red Arrow gets the message.

Roy isn't a sure how to respond to that, except that maybe Wally had a point. Super Speed could come in hands; it already had come in handy. And having someone like Wally on their side 'fighting the good fight' could prove to be a priceless asset. And Roy figures that working with someone again having a sidekick, no partner, would be a good thing. Because if he was being perfectly honest with himself, which he rarely ever was, he could seriously use the help.

Although another part of him, a larger part -which Roy would probably refer to as logic or reality-, was telling him what a bad idea this was. Because Roy could barely afford to pay his bills to feed himself, without having the added responsibility of another mouth to feed, a mouth with a super fast metabolism. This part of him argues that Wally was probably more trouble than he was worth, and he should let the league take care of the kid.

But Roy immediately told that part of him to shut the hell up because he was seventeen years old. And he was so not going to be running to the league for help the second things got hard. He walked away from Green Arrow away from all of them because he was old enough to start taking care of himself. Old enough to deal with his own problems and that was exactly was he was going to do.

"C'mon," Roy says turning his back to Wally and walking away, he doesn't stop to see whether or not Wally was following.

"Where are we going?" Wally asks, suddenly right next to him. And Roy is really going to have to get used to that.

"Home," Roy says softly and refuses to acknowledge the grin that spreads across Wally's face.

"Hey," Wally calls when they're finally out of the alley, Roy acknowledges him with a 'hm', "Can we maybe get something to eat, I'm really hungry!"

Roy sighs irritably and glares at the sidewalk, and so it begins.

.:.


End file.
